Cristóvão Ferreira (c. 1580–1650) was a Portuguese

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

priest and

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

missionary who committed

apostasy Apostasy (; ) is the formal religious disaffiliation, disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that is contrary to one's previous re ...

after being captured and tortured during the anti-Christian purges in 17th-century

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. During the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

missionaries and their Japanese followers were persecuted, arrested and executed. Authorities were concerned that the religion was making followers loyal to Christian nations rather than the

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

or the shogunate. After Ferreira had renounced his faith, he remained in Japan for the rest of his life. He became known as one of the "fallen priests" who assisted Japanese authorities with their knowledge of Western philosophies and sciences.

Early life and career

Born around 1580, in

Torres Vedras Torres Vedras () is a concelho, municipality in the Portugal, Portuguese district of Lisbon (district), Lisbon, approximately north of the capital Lisbon. It is a strong agricultural region thanks to its vineyards, and has an intense commercial ...

, Portugal, Ferreira was sent to

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, where he was a missionary from 1609 to 1633 in Japan, which was then ruled by the

Apostate

In 1633, Ferreira was captured and renounced Christianity after being tortured for five hours. He became the most famous of the "fallen priests" and changed his name to Sawano Chūan (

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

: 沢野忠庵). He registered at a Buddhist temple in accordance with Japanese law, and called himself "a member of the

Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

sect", but his own publications attest that he adopted a philosophy of

natural law Natural law (, ) is a Philosophy, philosophical and legal theory that posits the existence of a set of inherent laws derived from nature and universal moral principles, which are discoverable through reason. In ethics, natural law theory asserts ...

:: writes:

Life after apostasy

After his apostasy he married a Japanese woman and wrote several books, including treatises on Western

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

and

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

, which became widely distributed in the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

. He also is alleged to have privately written a book on religion entitled 「顕偽録」 (''The Deception Revealed'') in 1636, but it was not published for 300 years and there is some controversy concerning who wrote it. He participated in government trials of other captured Jesuits. He was often present during the use of '' fumi-e'', whereby suspected Christians were ordered to trample on an image of Jesus Christ.

Death

170px, Ferreira was interred in the gravesite of his son-in-law Sugimoto Chūkei's family. He died in

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

in 1650.Henrique Leitão (2000)
"Reseña de 'La Supercherie Dévoilée. Une Réfutation du Catholicisme au Japon au XVIIe Siécle' de Jacques Proust,"
''Bulletin of Portuguese / Japanese Studies, December, Año/Vol 1, Universidade Nova de Lisboa. Lisboa, Portugal, 131-134 Some reports claim that, just before his death he recanted, was tortured and died as a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

, while other reports merely note that he died.

In popular culture

Shusaku Endo's novel ''

Silence Silence is the absence of ambient hearing, audible sound, the emission of sounds of such low sound intensity, intensity that they do not draw attention to themselves, or the state of having ceased to produce sounds; this latter sense can be exten ...

'' is set in the aftermath of Ferreira's apostasy. Ferreira is played by Tetsurō Tamba in the 1971 film version and by

Liam Neeson William John Neeson (born 7 June 1952) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Liam Neeson, several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, BAFT ...

in the 2016 film version. In the 1996 Portuguese drama film '' Os Olhos da Ásia'', João Perry plays Ferreira.

References

External links

The Christian Century in Japan, by Charles Boxer

The case of Christóvão Ferreira, by Hubert Cieslik
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferreira, Cristovao 1580 births 1650 deaths Portuguese expatriates in Japan Portuguese torture victims Former Jesuits 17th-century Portuguese Jesuits Converts to Buddhism from Roman Catholicism Portuguese Roman Catholic missionaries Portuguese Buddhists People from Torres Vedras Jesuit missionaries in Japan